We commenced our journey about 1 yr prior to the purchase of our Hanoverian gelding. At that time we have been more often than not buying in the U.S. For a younger dressage prospect. Our intention changed into to discover a horse with potential that we could revel in developing and furthering to the fullest of his competencies.
Living within the Southwest we located that there had been silent auction donations few breeding farms in our areas committed solely to developing dressage horses. Thus, our seek began by means of considerably journeying local stables, exploring local phrase of mouth and sales advertisements, and exhaustively learning on line. While we observed many beautiful horses we failed to find our “dream” horse. We have been seeking out now not simply a fancy mover however a horse that become bred for dressage with awesome athletic ability and most importantly intelligence and a preference to paintings. Like many humans looking for horses we determined it highly difficult to discover a horse with the preferred movement, as well as a horse with the desired intelligence and paintings ethic, to have this sort of horse pass a vet take a look at, and in the end to maintain inside our preferred budget. So we started out our European adventure not due to the fact we could not purchase inside the U.S. But because after several months of looking we determined to alter our methodology which could with any luck improve our success charge.
Growing up I rode at a dressage barn that often had German judges, running shoes, apprentices and most importantly German Horses traveling. While I cherished my Thoroughbred I developed an appreciation for the German horse breeding enterprise and based totally on this history we decided that we would modify our seek to take us to Germany for the dream shopping for experience of our lifestyles. As I frequently tell friends, “this become our one loopy second!” So we were in no way specialists in European horse purchasing and truely not horse brokers. Therefore, we had to emerge as thoroughly educated prior to our visit. I found to my disappointment, that there were few if any beneficial publications on the internet and basically only brokers imparting to find a horse for you.
The first step in our horse seek changed into to locate and expand a courting with a neighborhood dressage trainer. We chose Gintara Slavinskas due to her type nature and choice to no longer push a young horse but to inspire that younger horse to broaden to his first-rate with simplest tremendous reinforcement. Therefore, we consulted substantially with Gintara on our decision to save in Germany and in brief order we have been all very excited and geared up to hop on the next aircraft. Common experience took over but, and we decided to attend a few extra months whilst we advanced a few contacts, selected a Verband or horse public sale to attend and basically educated ourselves.
In this process we found out that maximum of the German warmblood registries supplied several auctions in the course of the year and happily they’re all now offering on-line viewing and facts on the selection for the approaching auction. We settled on learning the Oldenburg, Westfalen, and Hanoverian registries. All in their net sites may be found at horse-gate.Com and make certain to pick out the small British Flag below the menu at the left for the English version of the web page. After finding hose-gate we then explored all of the Verbands we have been inquisitive about. At horse-gate these are located under the auction menu object. Select this button and you may find further alternatives for Hannover, Holstein, Oldenburg, Wastfalan, and ESI
So as soon as we chose our breed (Hanoverian) we started out watching the web auctions and results for that breed. The Hanoverian Verband has 12 auctions a 12 months so we had the opportunity to display some prior to our visit. The auctions are all a touch exclusive in the field of horses provided and exceptional/pricing of these horses so I propose you explore their web website online early to decide what public sale is fine for you.
We opted for the July Summer public sale and were capable of monitor the winter and spring public sale effects. For all the auctions the choice of horses are listed and numbered, maximum of the horses can have nonetheless pics and numerous could have videos. Now the auctions also are offering a live video feed showing a presentation of the complete choice. All of this permits the client to get an amazing experience of the first-class and sort supplied. The public sale homes do offer bidding and shopping for by using cellphone however I in my view do not propose shopping for based totally on simply the net records as we observed that seeing these equal horses in real lifestyles notably altered our favorites. Indeed, we had examined all photographs and watched all motion pictures effortlessly 100 instances previous to attending and had a brief listing with the strengths of each horse, however in the interim of arrival we tossed the list and stated making a brand new one primarily based on our live impressions. There is just nothing to overcome seeing and interacting directly with the horses. For online viewing you can also search the documents and examine the after income reports and learn statistics along with how many horses went to each u . S ., the average income rate similarly to the high and low sales charge. The web page even breaks down how many horses had been bought in each charge variety. I encourage you to view these stats and then to take into account that they’re not in bucks however in Euros so please convert for your rate in Euros. And consider to get tissue out for this test because the modern conversion price is genuinely not in our want.
For the high-quality fares we organized our flight tickets properly in advance and as this became “our crazy journey” we opted to fly first elegance. We discovered that via buying on-line and shopping early we were able to get first elegance tickets at an nearly educate charge. So I inspire you to search the online fares to save money for the auction.
Because we didn’t realize anyone in Germany and of route failed to realize the city we referred to as the Verband (they’re extremely helpful for their visitors) and went with their recommendation of Haags Hotel NiedersachsenHof. We determined this to be an affordable priced and lovable inn with loads of European allure. Their touch number is 04231/666-0. While this was a lovable resort the primary advantage is that it was only a short walk from the public sale residence allowing repeated visits all through our stay. The Hanoverian Verband and auction house are positioned in Lower Saxony Germany in the small town of Verden. The nearest airport is Bremen. A few different accommodations are available within the town of Verden but would require a short vehicle or cab trip to the public sale.
For our delivery we used a cab from Bremen to Verden because we failed to want the problem of driving in another country. The costs are accurate and cab hotels are clean and new with courteous drivers. We requested a pick up time and date from our cab motive force and he showed up promptly as scheduled. Rental cars can also be used however I inspire further studies previous to renting.
Okay, so timing of arrival is likewise vital to allow maximum time for viewing and attempting of the horses prior to the actual sales. The regular auctions make the horses available 2 weeks previous to the public sale and the Elite 1 month prior to the auction. We attended 1 week ahead of the public sale but would have preferred and enjoyed the extra week. Also, many international competitors will attend the primary week whilst it isn’t always as busy and not as many eyes are looking their choices.